Day 3 in Paradise: Maui Oceanfront 15K

We left our condo at 6 a.m. to be sure I got to Papaluau Beach, the starting point for the Maui Oceanfront 15K , in plenty of time for the 7:30 start. It’s only about a 20 minute drive, but we feared  marathon traffic might be backed up. Fortunately, it wasn't.

There were people milling around at the beach and I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do. I picked two ladies who looked friendly and asked them if I was supposed to check in somewhere. The older one said no, when you cross that line over there it will activate the timer on your number. She said she’s been in a lot of marathons and this is the most disorganized one she’d ever seen.

 Turns out she’s 80 years old and started running marathons when she was 40. Now she walks half marathons and 15ks. This was the first one for her daughter. A very delightful pair of ladies, and I loved starting my day with them!

Eventually, a man dressed in traditional Hawaiian clothing instructed us to come stand with our back to the ocean facing him while he did a traditional Hawaian blessing ceremony.  Four men blew on conch shells, or “Pū”,  facing the ocean and then away from the ocean, then he told everyone to touch someone’s shoulder and repeat a Hawaiian prayer after him. Then on to the start line!

I let the crowd go ahead of me while I made sure my Runkeeper was set and my headphones in place, so I was the last one over the start line.  After passing the slowest crowd, I ended up in step with a lady about my age in an aqua shirt who had a very awkward shoulder swinging run. She was running at a nice steady pace, and I figured I could keep up with someone that awkward. I stayed right behind her until a little after the halfway point, when I got a little sidetracked watching whales breaching out in the ocean.  I slowed to watch this incredible sight,  thinking I’d catch up with Ms. Aqua. Then my shoe felt loose so I stopped to tie it. I also had to fiddle with the stupid Runkeeper app. She was getting farther ahead and I wanted to catch her. I sped up but soon started feeling really hot, especially my face. I’m not used to that!  We had been going at about a 10:30 minute/mile pace, then I was at 9:38 for a mile trying to catch her. So I decided I better slow down, remembering a steep uphill hike a few years back in Zion National Park where I almost had heat stroke after feeling hot like that!

Runkeeper malfunctioned on me just after Mile 4. I like to be notified every 10 minutes of my pace and how far I’ve gone. Between Mile 3 and Mile 4, I went from a distance of 2.8 miles to 24.62 miles, and it said I was running at a 2.05 minute mile! So I had to stop that activity and start a new one. Pretty annoyed about not having the whole run on my record. When I look at the map, is shows that I zigged out into the ocean and back! Maybe the whale and I had a real connection! I figured out how to edit it on the website so at least my mileage is accurate. I digress.

After the next drink station where I stopped briefly to drink a cup of Gatorade and splash a cup of water on my face, I felt much better. I had been drinking at least a few swallows of water at every drink station, but switched to the  Gatorade/splash routine after that and felt great the rest of the run.

It was so beautiful, feeling strong and running like I could run forever in the sunshine along the sparkling ocean. When I saw the 1-mile marker, I felt like there must be a mistake. I was listening to music and couldn’t hear the Runkeeper announcements so I had lost track of how far I’d come. You mean this is almost over already! Soon it was off the highway and down into Lahaina, where people had come out of their houses to cheer on the runners.

As the finish line approached, I saw my husband with the camera and started to smile and wave…but that wasn’t my husband!  Shortly thereafter I saw his beautiful face, multi-tasking with his Go-Pro camera mounted on a stick taking video and a camera in his hand taking photos. What a guy!

What a great feeling to cross under that finish line, have a guy chase me down to put a medal around my neck, then stand under the mister. Ahhhh!   

 Then on out to the ocean, which is not freezing cold! It felt absolutely wonderful! I just stood and enjoyed it for awhile!

More milling around, having snacks and waiting for results to be posted. Finally the 15K was up and I saw that my time was 1:44 and I was third place in the age 50-54 female bracket, so I got to go stand in a slow moving line to get my medal! Later I checked the results on the webpage and see that there were only five women in that bracket! The 5th place was the daughter of the 80 year old, who was the only one in her age bracket! I hope when I'm 80 I still think it's fun to go out and walk 9.3 miles!

I looked for Betsy, a woman I met at the Albany Weight Watchers meeting, who was running her first marathon, but didn't see her. She has lost 160 pounds I believe, and has trained very hard. The results page show that she too placed 3rd in her age group...out of 5 ladies also! I sent her a congratulatory text and look forward to hearing her experience. 

I would like to thank my husband, cameraman, chauffer, and #1 supporter, without whom none of this would be possible!

I thought my day was complete when I exchanged texts with Hope's daughter Brianna this evening and learned that she had a good day today and the tingling in her arms seems to be improving slightly. Then it got even better when I checked Facebook while waiting for these pictures to download and saw a picture of the whole family at her bedside! I just love those sweet kids!

That makes my heart happy to see them all together around their mother, and breaks my heart at the same time to see her lying there like that. Keep on praying!

Which brings to mind one of my mother's favorite scriptures:"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall run and not faint." (Isaiah 40:30-31)